May 2025

It took the U.S. six days to get water to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the Superdome in 2005.

Taara, a Google X spin-out that delivers blistering data speeds via its free space optics platform, has enjoyed some success in the early going, touting deployments with fiber and mobile operators in more than a dozen countries. Taara, which initially has focused on the middle-mile market and intends to pursue the last-mile connectivity arena, hopes to scale up its reach with operators even further following a new value-added reseller deal with Colorado-based Digicomm International.

The final nail in Culpeper County’s (VA) broadband project has been struck. All Points Broadband recently emailed customers who had pre-registered for the project to tell them it wouldn’t be happening, placing the blame solely on Culpeper County. The county partnered with APB in 2020 to use Virginia Telecommunications Initiative funding, applied for and awarded through the Department of Housing and Community Development, to bring high-speed broadband internet service to approximately 4,300 unserved homes through the construction of 536 miles of fiber.